OFFICIALS at one of Scotland’s most iconic national parks have issued a warning after “significant” building work was undertaken with no planning permission sought.
The Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority said it had been forced to send out a number of Planning Contravention Notices (PCNs) after “unauthorised engineering works” were carried out on national park land.
The authority said the contraventions in question include “significant re-profiling of the land” and works to create a vehicle access and track, with no planning permission sought.
Officials have now demanded detailed information on the work carried out on land between Stroneslaney Road and the River Balvaig near Balquhidder. The small village sits on the eastern edge of Loch Voil and is home to the grave of outlaw and folk hero Rob Roy.
The authority said that six plots at the same site are being marketed for sale at auction. It cautioned that these plots are in an area at risk of flooding so any development would be unlikely to receive planning permission.
This is reportedly just the latest in a string of such cases, where land in desirable locations is advertised for sale at an attractive price, promoting the area’s amenities and location, without any reference to the requirement for planning permission or the constraints that are very likely to make the land unsuitable for development.
In 2020, planning enforcement action was taken by the national park against a site near Gartocharn, where small plots had been sold without highlighting the significant planning constraints on the land and where unauthorised work had been carried out.
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Stuart Mearns, director of place at the Trossachs authority, said the news was “disappointing” as the owner of the land had been contacted beforehand about the planning process.
Mearns said: “Any development work within the national park requires planning permission. Unfortunately what we are seeing is plots of land being sold to people who are not fully aware of these constraints and are left deeply disappointed when they cannot, for example, use the plot to build a new home, a holiday home, park motorhomes or put up a small storage shed.
“On this specific area of land near Balquhidder, work has gone ahead without planning permission in place so we are taking action to investigate this work, with a view to restoring the land to its original condition and preventing any further unauthorised work.
“Equally concerning is that plots of land on the wider site are being marketed for auction, without detailing the significant constraints of the site. Anyone purchasing these plots would be very unlikely to receive permission to develop them as they are in an environmentally sensitive landscape where there is a risk of flooding.
“Anyone interested in purchasing these plots should seek advice from suitably qualified persons or seek the national park authority’s planning advice in the first instance.
“It is disappointing to be in this situation as we did provide the owner and occupier of the land with advice in respect of the planning process and the risk of flooding. The significant constraints on the land have also been highlighted.
“Enforcement action is a last resort but one which we don’t hesitate to take where the correct planning procedures are not followed. We hope to engage the owner and occupier in positive discussions in order to resolve this matter.”
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